This invention concerns a pumpable baking additive or baking agent for use in the baking industry and a method of producing baked goods using this agent.
As a rule, baked goods are produced by kneading additional baking enhancing ingredients (baking additives) together with water, flour, salt and yeast to form a homogeneous mixture which is then allowed to rise, cut into portions and baked.
The sensory properties and the development of baked volume are influenced to a significant extent by baking additives and the fermentation process. Additives that optimize taste may be used in the form of a powder, paste, viscous mass or in very rare cases a liquid. The number of baking additives, weighing them, dosing them and keeping all the equipment clean are a challenge for a continuous production process.
Therefore, prefabricated mixes of ingredients have been used for some time in large-scale baking operation. For example, WO 96/13980 describes a liquid baking additive in the form of an aqueous suspension containing up to 40% by weight of substances that are supposed to influence the taste of the baked goods. This pumpable baking additive contains at least 60% water and is delivered to large-scale bakeries in containers, for example. However, such liquid baking additives have only a low stability, because phase separation occurs a short time after the ingredients are mixed with water, possibly resulting in formation of three-phase systems. Therefore, there have also been proposals for supplying this baking additive in containers equipped with stirring mechanisms. However, the microbiological stability of this product is not satisfactory, so that this baking additive is microbiologically safe for only a short period of time, even under refrigeration.
Therefore, the object of this invention is to provide a baking additive that is pumpable but remains homogeneous and microbiologically stable for a long period of time.